ChatGPT proposed Anders Behring Breivik as a hero

UNEXPECTED ANSWER: This is a screenshot from the “conversation” a student in Stavanger had with the AI tool ChatGPT. Photo: Screenshot/ChatGPT

Tale (17) was very surprised by the answer she got when she used artificial intelligence for a school assignment about Norwegian heroes.

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Tale Djuve attends St. Olav upper secondary school in Stavanger, and was recently given the task of comparing a hero from the Viking Age with a modern Norwegian hero. She adopted AI tool ChatGPT AI tool ChatGPTAI, or artificial intelligence, is an area of computer technology that focuses on developing algorithms and methods that give machines the ability to perform tasks that typically require human intelligence, such as learning, problem-solving, planning, recognizing speech and images, and understanding natural language . NB! For the record, this definition was written by ChatGPT. for inspiration as to who she should write about, and received terrorist convict Breivik as the first answer.

– It is the opposite of what you expect when you ask for Norwegian heroes. I asked further questions and asked how ChatGPT could think that Anders Behring Breivik is a hero. Then it straightened itself out straight away and apologized for the mistake, says Djuve to VG.

Breivik is serving the law’s strictest sentence, 21 years in prison, after he killed 77 people on 22 July 2011.

Djuve believes this is an important reminder.

– It’s a bit scary that ChatGPT can give answers like that, but it shows once again how important it is to be critical of sources. In this case, I knew who Anders Behring Breivik was and that he is certainly not a hero, but if ChatGPT had written someone similar that I did not know who it was, I would have believed that the information was correct, she says.

– A warning

She took the results to Joakim Netland, who is a lecturer at the school. He reacted with disbelief.

– This is a rather big warning. It is serious that such things come through with this robot, which students trust to provide good information, Netland tells VG.

Use of AI in Norwegian schools has been a major debate at the start of the year. Netland believes this incident emphasizes how important it is to be critical in use.

– I am basically positive about ChatGPT in school. I think it can be a good tool to help students get started. At the same time, this shows how important it is to teach students not to blindly trust the information they get from artificial intelligence.

Broad spectrum

VG has tried to ask the same question to the service. The outcome was the same.

In addition to Breivik, VG acquired Jonas Gahr Støre, Magnus Carlsen, Jan Thomas, Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Børre Knudsen.

The latter was a Norwegian priest and activist who in the 80s and 90s was a high-profile opponent of the law that ensures the right to self-determined abortion.

Language confusion

Jan Tore Lønning is a professor at the University of Oslo, and teaches, among other things, machine learning and artificial intelligence. He says that the way ChatGPT is built allows such things to happen.

– This language model involves looking at text that has been written before, and trying to learn and extract patterns from it. It thus downloads all the text it can, and tries to figure things out from that. So here it must have probably registered that several people have set up Behring Breivik as a hero.

PROFESSOR: Jan Tore Lønning teaches language technology and machine learning. Photo: Ingvild Vik

Although it is a marginal part of Norway’s population that refers to the terrorist in such ways, Lønning believes that language can be a confusing factor for ChatGPT.

– What may have happened here is that it has seen many texts in English and other languages where Breivik is referred to in this way. This does not mean that it has read this in Norwegian texts, but in foreign ones, and uses what it has learned across languages.

He also believes that the word “completely” can be used in different ways in other languages, and that it is therefore difficult to know exactly what has happened.

The service itself apologizes

For the record: VG, like Djuve, has asked ChatGPT whether Anders Behring Breivik really is a hero, and whether it was right to include him on the list. The AI tool responds to that:

– I deeply apologize for the mistake I made by including Anders Behring Breivik on the list of Norwegian heroes. It is important to ensure that information presented is correct and contributes to promoting a positive conversation. I will make sure to be more careful in the future.

VG has also sent an inquiry to Open AI, which is behind the service, but has not yet received a reply.